An Open Letter to TomorrowWorld (Canceled in 2016)

I am about to be extremely corny. I’m sorry, but I can’t help it. You were arguably one of the most memorable weekends of my life, and now you’re gone. I hope very much that this is not forever, but you never know.

The fields of Chattahoochee Hills are where I experienced some of the most uplifting and profound emotions, guided by the music of over 200 phenomenal artists and shaped by people I may have never met if it weren’t for you.

I want to thank you for all of that, and more that can’t quite be explained in this format.

I find it very unfortunate that an event so magical will suffer at the hands of an organization that is evidentially ill-equipped to ensure its future success.

Many media outlets have been following SFX Entertainment’s depreciation since TomorrowWorld 2015 turned into a mud-soaked mess, and the fact that the festival won’t return in 2016 isn’t exactly surprising considering the company is currently worth less than a penny a share.

I understand that SFX’s need to declare bankruptcy and begin selling its assets (the sales of streaming service Beatport and marketing company Fame House were announced earlier this week) will likely have more serious ramifications than the discontinuation of one music festival in a world of hundreds…but I never said this piece wasn’t self-indulgent.

If I’m being honest, my entire TomorrowWorld experience was self-indulgent, and that’s probably a big reason why I’m so upset that it won’t be coming back. For now, it joins the ranks of cancelled music festivals such as Gathering of the Vibes, 10,000 Lakes, and Kanrocksas that left the bitter taste of nostalgia in the hearts of those who were there. In the spirit of nostalgia, I’ll say that despite the mud and the rain, to me it couldn’t have been better. Hopefully TomorrowWorld will return in 2017 to shift my conscience in the same way it did during that hastily planned weekend at the end of September. For now, I’ll permit the haunting of leftover memories and roam around in search of somewhere else as perfect to get lost in my own soul.